


Learn By Doing

by Jaela



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Practice Kissing, poly!Suga rears his head again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 16:16:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11993388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jaela/pseuds/Jaela
Summary: Suga teaches Kageyama how to kiss.





	Learn By Doing

**Author's Note:**

> Shiptember, Day 3! This time it's KageSuga, and my beloved practice kissing trope. I swear I can write other stuff, but... this trope is too good, and I just keep coming back to it.
> 
> The very special people the two of them talk about aren't meant to be anyone in particular, unless you want them to be.
> 
> Originally written for SASO2016's Bonus Round 1, for this prompt! https://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/13489.html?thread=3563697#cmt3563697

There are rumors about Suga amongst his own school and the neighboring ones. It doesn’t bother him, really, because they’re pretty much all at least partially true. Some, he’s even made his own contributions to spreading.

Most of the rumors have something to do with Suga’s romantic history. Namely that he, unlike many of his sports-obsessed peers,  _has_  a romantic history.

All he does is help a guy from another school pen a confession letter after a practice match one day, and before he knows it, Suga is regularly being sought out for love advice. At one point or another, a middle blocker from a team he hasn’t even faced approaches Suga with tense, awkward posture, and asks about starting conversations. Suga tells him with a smile that he’s just done it, but that this might make it easier—Suga touches his shoulders, slowly moves them back and down, guides him to stand with his feet further apart. He places a hand on his stomach and says “Relax as much as you can, and try breathing from here.” Dual confidence-plus-approachability boost, right there, he explains.

It works. And from there it gets around that Suga gives hands-on lessons in wooing the object of one’s desire.

Until today, though, no one from Suga’s own team has mentioned it, except maybe to tease him.  _Certainly_ , none of them has tried to take him up on it. The appeal, Suga supposes, lies in guidance from someone you don’t have to see every day afterwards.

Today is different.

 _Kageyama_  is different.

“I need… help.” It looks like it physically pains Kageyama to say the words. Suga does his best to offset those nerves with a kind smile, and nods for Kageyama to continue. This probably isn’t about volleyball, if it’s taking him this far out of his comfort zone, but Suga knows that pointing that out would shut Kageyama down.

“Is it… true… about you, senpai?”

Probably. “Depends on what it is.”

Kageyama swallows, balls his hands into fists. “Is it true that you teach people how to kiss?” He has to catch his breath after he says it, staring at the ground like he’s prepared to sink into it if he has to.

Suga folds his hands behind his head, still smiling. “That’s a service I provide, sure. Although I’m better known for my  _amazing_  skills as a setter.” He winks, and can’t really tell if that helps or not.

“I’ve never kissed anyone before,” Kageyama says, with the same unaware cardor Suga’s heard him say  _I was rejected from Shiratorizawa._

“Would you like to?”

Kageyama looks… constipated, maybe. This is clearly even more difficult for him than the first part. “Yes.”

Suga has the whole story now, more or less, but he doesn’t do these things obliquely. There has to be a clear and direct statement of exact intent or it’s no go, and that’s not going to come unprompted from someone who’s already operating at single syllables.

“Kageyama, just to be clear—you want to kiss  _me_ , specifically?”

“Yes,” Kageyama says, and shakes his head  _no_  at the same time. And then he reverses it—nods and says “No.”

Suga takes a deep breath. “You want to kiss someone else,” he tries.

Kageyama is already not looking at him, but diverts his gaze further to trace the shadow of a distant pebble. “Very much.”

“Good, okay,” Suga says. “But you came to me because…?” He tries not to make it sound too much like a pop quiz. You know this one, Kageyama. You can do it, Suga silently cheers.

“Because first…” There’s another pebble even further away, casting an even tinier shadow. “…I’d like you to teach me how. Please.”

“Perfect!” Suga claps him on the back and starts walking. “Follow me.”

\--

There’s a particular spot behind the school Suga is very familiar with. He’s never given lessons here before, but it’s the location of a couple of his own personal pursuits. It’s what he has on hand, by way of a location, when he’s not used to conducting these sessions on his home turf. It’s a little funny, maybe, to be here with Kageyama and not with someone he’s been actively daydreaming about for so long that he doesn’t have the patience to invite them somewhere else. It’s not bad though, really, or weird. The brick wall he leans back against casually has the comfort of familiarity.

“Unless there’s something else that would make you feel more comfortable,” Suga tells Kageyama, “you can stand in front of me, and just face me like we’re having a conversation.”

Kageyama leaves at least 80 solid centimeters between them.

“Um, like we’re having a  _private_  conversation, and you don’t want anyone to overhear,” Suga tries.

Kageyama takes a step forward, first one foot and then the other. It’s entirely too businesslike and obedient, but it has the intended effect. And from this close, Suga can see that Kageyama is blushing. It’s faint, and mainly at the outer corners of his cheekbones, which is lucky. Suga is the type who blushes fluorescent all the way across his cheeks, which is kind of unfair.

“Tell me something about the person you like.”

Kageyama’s eyes go wide, and he makes several false starts at speech before Suga can intervene.

“Okay, it’s okay, I’m just asking because it’ll give me a better idea of what we’re working with. I can start you out, though. Want to hear something about a person I like?”

Kageyama nods stiffly, but his face looks less pained.

Suga twirls a strand of hair around his finger, pulls a good detail to mind. “There’s someone I’ve only kissed once,” he starts, fondness tugging up the corners of his lips at the memory. “It was nice. There’s a height difference between us, but we were standing on different steps outside a theatre, so it was just about even. I like how neither of us said out loud that we were going to do that, but it just sort of worked out that way. If we get a chance to try again, I’d like to see if things work out naturally like that the second time.”

Kageyama looks at him with eyes full of wonder, and clears his throat quietly. “It’s the same with me. There’s a height difference.”

Suga nods more than he needs to, hoping to be encouraging. “Is that something you like about them?”

“Not really,” Kageyama says. “But should we stand on steps?”

“Mm, not necessarily. That was just an example. See, you’re taller than me, but we don’t need that. What works best depends on the person, and how you feel about each other.”

Kageyama twists his lips up when he thinks hard. “Stamina,” he says finally.

“Stamina.” Suga blinks. “That’s… oh, that’s the thing you like about your person?”

“Is that the wrong answer?”

“No, no, there are no right or wrong answers to this. But… okay. So that would mean… do you mind?” He takes hold of Kageyama’s hands, eyes asking permission. Kageyama nods, so Suga guides him to rest his palms on Suga’s shoulders. “You can move as much as you want, but this is a good place to start.” Suga wraps his arms loosely around Kageyama’s waist.

Kageyama shifts from one foot to the other, the urge to fidget clashing against the part of him that is a diligent student in the school of learning-by-doing.

“It’s best not to think too hard about it,” Suga says. “People have been doing this for a really long time, and a lot of it is just instinct. But if you want some tips up front, I can do that.”

“Please,” Kageyama says.

Suga had expected as much. “Not too hard,” Suga says. “Less like a high five, and more like holding hands. Just take it slow, figure out where you fit. It’s okay to have some expectations about where you want to go, but there’s no need to force it. You can just feel it out and let yourself be taken there.”

Suga isn’t sure why he’s absolutely certain that Kageyama is working on converting the advice into sports metaphors, but it’s somehow visible there on his face. There is a nearly imperceptible tightening of Kageyama’s fingers, and he says “I understand.”

“Okay,” Suga says. “Let’s begin.”

To start with Suga has to pursue Kageyama most of the way, meeting lips that hold firm in one position, like Kageyama is afraid to move at all or press back. But Suga hears him take in a breath through his nose, surprised, and then he shifts in Suga’s arms and leans forward so they’re meeting on equal grounds. Kageyama experiments with minute changes of angle until, just like Suga said, he finds a place he fits just like he belongs there. Kageyama’s lips go soft and pliant then, amenable to the suggestion of Suga sliding from his lower lip to his upper one, only hesitating momentarily when he tilts his head the opposite direction and helps him find what feels the most natural that way, too.

Suga pulls back to check in, and Kageyama’s eyes are full of questions.

“Good,” Suga assures him. “There’s someone I like who has the best laugh in the world. I try to make them laugh all the time because I like it so much.”

It takes Kageyama a moment to catch on, but he does. “The person I like is very serious about their ambitions.”

Suga steps in closer and tilts his chin up to compensate, and when they kiss again he anchors his hands flat against Kageyama’s back and lets him lead a little more. It’s a bit too hard at one moment, and then corrected easily in the next.

“I like a person who gets just as excited about nice weather no matter how many times it happens in a row.”

Kageyama is ready this time. “The person I like gets along with people easily.”

Suga pulls back to grasp Kageyama’s biceps, leverages himself up on his toes, and lets himself hum happily at how gentle Kageyama is this time around.

“This one person knows when I’m upset before I do, and is always massaging my shoulders when no one is looking.”

“Half the jokes they make are stupid, but sometimes they’re really funny.”

Suga tries to lick into Kageyama’s mouth but he denies it silently, presses back just firm enough that it’s a statement and an embrace in one.

“This one time, we went out to look for shooting stars, but I didn’t see a damn thing because I was too busy looking at how sparkly their eyes were.”

“They buy my favorite snacks for me with their own allowance.”

Suga leans back against the wall, gestures for Kageyama to  _come here_ , and tugs insistently at his shirt until Kageyama gets the point and presses against him. He moves his hands of his own accord this time, thumbs tentatively stroking at Suga’s neck until he musters the confidence to cup Suga’s face in his palms.

Suga giggles when they break to breathe, and Kageyama tenses.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“Nah. I laughed because I’m happy. Don’t sweat it, Kageyama, you’re a natural.”

Kageyama shakes his head. “I wouldn’t have known what to do at all.”

“Well, either way.” Suga gives him a one-shouldered shrug, and straightens up. “You’ve got it. Good luck!”

Kageyama thanks him, and straightens his shirt. Kageyama, who trusts his own physical instincts, who grasps new techniques quickly, who is learning more and more to meet people where they are. Honestly, to borrow a metaphor from another sport, Kageyama is going to knock it out of the park.

And if he doesn’t, well, who knows. Maybe a day will come when Suga can say he likes a person who sees simple homework assignments as an insurmountable horror, but can pick up new skills in a single afternoon with a little guidance.


End file.
